lonesome when you're around ; LOVI

Tino did not often take advantage of his breaks. He preferred to spend his time working to help others instead of using his work hours on himself. Nonetheless, it was a slow day in the hospital, especially for his patients. He'd checked up on all of them, given them lunch, and now had nothing to do for three hours until the next time he had to administer medication. He'd asked around for something to do, but to no avail. So after a light lunch, Tino grabbed a book and his jacket, setting off into the courtyard.

The courtyard was covered in a thin layer of snow. It was not actively falling, but Tino had seen the gentle descent of the white flakes earlier that day. Having changed into jeans and boots, Tino paced slowly on the pavement, shuddering. He adored winter. It reminded him of Helsinki; reminded him of home. The trees in the courtyard, barren of leaves, were dusted with the white blanket. The snow seemed to bring their lifeless branches vibrancy.

The air was crisp and cold. Of course, Tino had experienced far chillier winters, hailing from one of the coldest countries in the world, but the cheerful blonde never grew tired of watching his breath become visible in the cold air. Making a point to exhale more forcefully than he inhaled, the Finn found a suitable bench and brushed away the thin layer of snow, sitting down on it and opening his book.

There were few things Lovino did with his spare time. One was stopping in to check on Feliciano; the stupid idiot was always getting himself into trouble and most of the time it felt like he had to clean up the mess. Another one was going to find Antonio to see when he had his break so he could go annoy the older man. The last option was going to check on the turtles in the courtyard, which was what he was doing at the moment. After Damiano got sick, Lovino tried to be extra careful with the others, trying to do everything he could to keep the others from catching a cold as well.

The first thing Lovino noticed when he walked out was that it was cold. The air was colder than he remembered it being earlier that day… A soft sigh escaped his lips as he made his way over to the pond, kneeling beside it to look at all the turtles. After a quick headcount, the Italian was satisfied that they were all there. That was a good sign. Lovino didn’t know what he was going to do if one of them suddenly disappeared. He cared about each and every one of them; they were all important to him.

Taking a deep breath, the Italian sat down on the grass, not caring about the cold snow. He leaned forward to look at the turtles and slowly began to talk to them, going on about anything and everything he could think of. It was nice, being able to talk like this without having to watch his mouth. There wasn’t anyone else around…and that tended to make things easier. With another sigh, the Italian reached forward to run his fingers along Damiano’s shell. It was relaxing and something he couldn’t really do in the warmer months.

His musings were cut off when he heard the door open and someone walked out. It was one of the nurses he’d seen around the hospital. He didn’t seem like a bad person, but Lovino wasn’t really looking to be out here while other people were around… Even if it was the quiet nice one. With a sigh, the Italian muttered a good-bye to his turtles, shooing them back towards the warmth of their home before standing up to go back inside.